In the Heart of a Lonely City
by AquaRias
Summary: Bruce has left Gotham and everything he knew behind after Bane, Tony is having a hard time adjusting. When a personal case brings Bruce to New York no one is more surprised then him at the connection that forms between him and Tony Stark -but all good things are made to be broken, and neither one of them is any good at these kinds of things. Slash M/M


In the Heart of a Lonely City (I'll never wander sad and alone)

_By AquaRias_

**_Summary: _****Bruce has left Gotham and everything he knew behind after Bane, Tony is having a hard time adjusting to everything that has happened after the initial assembling of the Avengers. When a personal case brings Bruce to New York no one is more surprised then him at the connection that forms between him and Tony Stark -but all good things are made to be broken, and neither one of them is really any good at these sort of things.**

**_Warnings_****: Slash M/M, T rating so nothing explicit**

**_Notes:_**** Part one of the Lonely Hearts series, part two has now been published. See end for more notes. Enjoy. **

He was in France when he saw it; it had been one year since his disappearance from Gotham following the explosion of the nuclear bomb. He had stuck around just long enough to collect Selina, and had left his home behind forever, with no regrets. He and Selina had parted ways after just a few months; she had wanted what he could never give her. Despite her best efforts to convince him otherwise he had never truly been able to trust her, and he was reminded of the reasons why every day that she spent by his side as they made their way through Europe. The silences had begun to stretch out between them, he would suddenly find that he had nothing to say to her. He felt unable to connect with her on a personal level, and it led to their communication steadily trickling away until the day came that she finally had enough. She had at first tried to bridge the gap that had grown between them, only to eventually give up and take her leave from his side.

He heard from her from time to time, she always included a return address and she always hinted that if he ever changed his mind he knew where to find her. He doubted he ever would – he had found more peace travelling alone then he ever had in her company in the months before. He didn't need anyone, he was happy on his own. And so, alone, he had been wandering through Paris when he had caught the tail end of a broadcast that immediately captured his interest.

"_-And crossing live to Gotham now, we have the Police Commissioner Gordon with further details on this case. Commissioner Gordon, what more can you tell us about the disappearance of Nightwing?"_

"_Well, not much more to tell you the truth." Gordon sighed wearily, Bruce absently thinking that he looked like he had aged a decade since he had last seen him. "Due to the public nature of this case most details are already known. I'm sure that by now you've all seen the video…Nightwing, the protector of our city, was involved in some kind of skirmish with several masked attackers. He was overwhelmed when a noxious gas was released and quickly became unconscious. We then saw him dragged into a vehicle which soon left the scene, and he has not been seen or heard from since." Gordon paused, seemingly considering something before continuing. "I do not know why his assailant decided to make the video of his attack public, perhaps it was to intimidate the people of Gotham by making it known that their hero has been abducted. I am not sure, but we are working our hardest to get to the bottom of this case. Nightwing has done a lot for our city, most notably in the fall out and clean up after the occupation we suffered just one year ago where Gotham's former hero, The Batman, tragically lost his life to save this city. We will honor Nightwing's service to Gotham by continuing to do our best to locate him and bring his attacker to justice. Thank you."_

"_That was Commissioner Gordon bringing us the latest news on the Nightwing case, thank you commissioner."_ Bruce frowned as the broadcast ended, looking down at his coffee that had begun to cool in front of him. The café bustled with noise around him, several conversations in French overlapping and creating a cacophony.

So, Blake had been captured. His stomach roiled slightly at the thought – when he had left the batcave and the Nightwing suit for John to find after his disappearance he had not considered the possibility of the boy being defeated and captured before even a year had passed. There had been no major threats in Gotham since Bane, and the city had finally been rebuilding and returning to its former glory. The most he had banked on Nightwing having to deal with was corrupt cops and any leftover gang members that had escaped prosecution after Bane's occupation - clearly that was not the case.

Bruce sighed, and shook his head slightly. It wasn't for him to worry about anymore. Gotham was in his past, and he never intended to return. He had faked his death for a reason after all, the city needed to continue on without him...and he needed to continue without the city.

Somehow at the same time, he couldn't help feeling guilty for his part in what had befallen the honorable young cop, John Blake. His actions during Bane's occupation and defeat had impressed Bruce, he could think of no one better to take up the mantle of batman than John Blake. And so he had left the Nightwing suit behind along with hidden instructions for Blake to find in order to locate the batcave. He had left him the suit and his legacy - an invitation to carry on where he had left off. Only now, it appeared, he had led him to be captured and possibly killed.

"Gordon's on the case. He'll find him." He muttered to himself, standing up and abandoning his now distinctly cold coffee. "It has nothing to do with me. There is absolutely no reason for me to go back there. None." He was happy here, away from Gotham. He was happy here on his own. Or at least, that was what he tried to tell himself…the same way that he tried to tell himself that he hadn't been looking for an excuse to return to his home ever since he had left. He really _hadn't_.

….

It was somewhat with a sense of déjà vu that Bruce dropped down onto the veranda, soundlessly landing and surprising the man already standing there. Gordon's eyes widened impossibly as he took a hasty step back. "Who…what?" He gasped. "Batman?" he breathed incredulously. "You're..." He gaped, shaking his head slightly.

"Apparently not." The rasp came back to him with a profound sense of satisfaction as Bruce smiled ruefully under the mask, waiting for the commissioner to adjust to the news.

"I knew it!" Gordon said finally, a smile breaking out on his weathered face. "I always said I thought you might have made it…I just didn't know _how_." Gordon paused, eyebrow raised as he waited for an explanation.

Bruce did not oblige. "Nightwing." He said firmly, crossing his arms. "Tell me everything."

Gordon shook his head slightly. "Of course, the broadcast. Well, there's not much else to tell. We haven't found anything at all. No evidence, no leads."

"Nothing at all?" Bruce frowned.

Gordon smiled. "Well, actually, now that you mention it…" He fished around in his pocket for a second, before pulling out a folded piece of paper inside a small plastic bag. "We found this at the scene. Didn't really know what to make of it, thought maybe it just meant that whoever has Blake knows about his connection to you. Of course, we thought you were dead..." He pulled the paper out and unfolded it, on the inside in dark ink was the symbol of a bat.

Bruce took the paper from Gordon, studying it carefully. "Whoever has him knows I'm alive."

Gordon nodded. "I think you might be right. Do you think they took him to bait you out?"

"Could be." Bruce grunted, turning the paper over. "Nothing else?"

Gordon shook his head. "Nothing. The scene was completely clean, my guess is it was thoroughly wiped between the attack and when the video was leaked. We have no way of knowing exactly when it actually took place, only that the video was released two days ago." Bruce nodded, already turning to leave.

"Are you back in Gotham for good now?" Gordon asked, hope coloring his words.

Bruce paused. "Just visiting." He couldn't return to Gotham.

"Bruce!" He stopped, turning back to face Gordon, who was looking slightly pained. "Thank you. What you did…you saved us all."

"It's Batman, Bruce is still dead." Bruce said firmly, starting to turn away. "And so is Batman, to everyone but you." He warned carefully, before disappearing into the night.

Gordon sighed, still looking where he had last been. "Be careful Bruce."

….

Returning to the cave was a strange experience – it was a place he had thought never to return, and yet here he was. A strange sense of nostalgia washed over him as he entered causing him to pause and glance around carefully. His heart jumped in his chest as an odd feeling resonated within him - he was home. But no, he _wasn't_, because this wasn't home anymore. Shaking his head slightly, he pushed those unwanted thoughts away and quickly made his way to the central desk. Thankfully, it was set up exactly how he left it – whether Nightwing had just found no use for his equipment or whether he had left it out of respect for its former owner Bruce did not know, but he was grateful to find it unchanged.

He took a seat and paused for a moment, before pulling out the small piece of paper and unfolding it in front of him. He studied the marking carefully – there was no doubt that it was his symbol, almost identical to the one that decorated the light at the police station. It looked to be drawn in plain ink, there was nothing obvious about the ink that stood out to him as a possible clue.

Finally he turned it over, and studied the other side carefully. Nothing. There was nothing printed on the other side at all, just blank paper. He sighed, leaning back in his chair. There had to be something here, the note was obviously left on purpose, and why leave a note that said nothing?

He eyed the equipment beside him, wondering if any of Lucius's creations might find something he had missed. Finally he decided it was worth a try, and placed the paper into one of the machines. This particular machine was made to analyse the chemical compounds of whatever was put into it, if nothing else he hoped it might provide some insight into the noxious gas used to overwhelm Nightwing, assuming the paper had been at the scene and exposed to the gas at the time of the attack.

He waited for a few minutes while the machine did its work, and finally took it out at the long beep that emitted from the machine. His eyes fell to the screen as he waited for the chemical read out, before widening in surprise. The readout showed high levels of a chemical compound on the reverse side of the paper. By the 3D imagery provided by the readout it was clear that the chemical was in fact not the gas used to knock out Nightwing, but a liquid that had been deliberately applied to the blank side of the paper. But why?

He quickly moved the paper from the first machine, and instead placed in under the small lamp in the corner of the desk. He reached over to turn off the main lights, plunging the cave into complete darkness. He then held it carefully underneath the faintly purple light that the lamp emitted, scrutinizing the paper for any changes. At first nothing happened, but after a few moments a yellow color slowly became clear across the paper until Bruce was able to make out very faint writing on the back of the bat symbol. He squinted, finally able to make out the letters.

"New York, NY." He muttered, turning the paper over again to see the bat symbol once more. "Is that where they have him?" He mused with a frown, turning the paper over to make sure there was nothing else to find.

He sighed, shaking his head. This was becoming a case worthy of a headache already – a missing superhero, a clue left presumably just for him, and all he had was the name of a very large city.

…

Getting to New York was the easy part – figuring out what to do from there was a bit more complicated. With virtually no other clues, all Bruce could really do was go there and look around a bit, and hope to find something useful. It wasn't much to go on at all, and it left Bruce feeling rather futile as he wandered around night after night in the bustling yet unsettling city that was New York. He stepped in on a few scuffles, stopped a few muggings, and just generally tried to keep busy, all the while looking for anything and everything that might be connected to the Nightwing case. So far he had found absolutely nothing. New York was a strange city, like nothing he had ever experienced before. He had trouble trying to put it into words, but the most he could describe was a weird feeling. If cities had souls, then Bruce would say that the soul of New York was an angry one. It always felt cold, empty despite the huge population, sometimes even heartless. If a city could be inherently hostile, then Bruce would call it that. It was not a pleasant feeling and it kept Bruce constantly on edge.

New York was also surprisingly low in serious crime, and so as a result _bored_ was a state Bruce often found himself in while 'on duty' at night. He never really stopped to think about why there was such a low crime rate in one of the busiest cities in America, but nonetheless he quickly realized that it was something he should have been thinking about when the answer quite literally dropped out of the sky beside him one night.

He had been crouching on top of a rooftop, scanning the city for any potential law breaking when a large metal shape had landed beside him, almost sending him tumbling off the roof in surprise. His eyebrow rose almost of its own accord as he took in the sight that greeted him, a man made entirely of red and gold metal was standing before him, with his arms crossed and looking a little pissed off. _Right_. The revelation hit him like a tonne of bricks. Iron Man. The Avengers. Of course. New York's own band of superhero's – how had Bruce forgotten about them?

To be fair he had had other things on his mind, but after a whole week in New York it probably should have occurred to him that oh, right, _Avengers_. And standing in front of him now, making him realize all this in the space of about three seconds, was Tony Stark otherwise known as Iron Man, and he looked annoyed.

"Batman." Iron Man said flatly, arms still crossed. "Are you lost?" Voice modulator or not, the sarcastic tone still came through loud and clear.

Bruce grunted, also folding his arms somewhat defiantly. "Tony Stark." He said in a low growl.

"What are you doing on this very fine rooftop?" He sounded slightly exasperated now, "and while we're on the subject, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Bruce shrugged slightly. "I got better." He offered no response to the 'why' part of the metal man's question.

Iron Man paused for a moment, before deactivating the face plate of his suit. It slowly slid away revealing the frowning face and trademark goatee of Tony Stark. "Right." Tony said, disbelief and a hint of suspicion coloring his words. "Well, time to go now, this is _my_ city. Go find your own." He frowned, looking up slightly. "Jeez you're a big guy aren't you. You're gonna give a guy a sore neck."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, his glare deepening slightly. "I have brief business here. I have no intention of staying in your city," he stepped forward slightly, bringing himself closer to Tony with an assertive air. "If you agree to stay out of my way, I'll agree to stay out of yours."

Tony snorted, taking his own step forward and placing himself just inches away from Bruce's still scowling face. "And just what business exactly does _Batman_ have in New York? Did you lose your little clown friend again?" He taunted, eyes glittering with one part humor and three parts annoyance.

Bruce bristled, not appreciating the reference to the Joker's (unfortunately highly televised) most recent escape just a few years ago, in which he had attempted to terrorize Chicago until Bruce had dragged him back to Gotham. _Again_. "No." He growled, "The Joker is safely imprisoned. I am here on personal business."

"Whew, glad to know he's imprisoned again. Let me guess, Arkham asylum? Because, you know, he's only escaped three other times before. Here in New York we do things properly." Tony joked, his glare betraying his lack of real humor. "Now you listen Bats," he started, uncrossing his arms. "I'm willing to let this whole thing go. Walk away, no harm no foul. You just run along out of my city and we don't have a problem, you and me."

"I can't do that." Bruce growled. "I must remain in this city until I find what I'm looking for."

Tony scowled, his face plate sliding back down to cover his face. "Then you better watch your back. This is my territory and I don't take well to giant, grumpy, flying rats coming in to cause problems in my city. This is no Gotham, we don't get those breeds of crazies here – and you'd better not be bringing any with you or there'll be hell to pay." With that warning, Tony turned around activating his repulsors almost instantly. Within seconds he was flying through the sky, leaving Bruce to stare after him in annoyance.

…

The second encounter Bruce had with Tony Stark was a little different to the first. This time he had dropped in on Bruce while he was taking care of some carjackers over in Queens. It had started with only the two, just kids really, but apparently these kids had friends and their friends had guns. It had turned into a _slight_ skirmish, with Bruce finding himself defending against five angry, heavily armed thugs. He nevertheless had been winning the fight (one small bullet hole to the shoulder notwithstanding, just a graze really) and he had _not_ needed Stark's help. At all. And yet the cocky man in the suit of metal had jumped into the battle, and with his impressive repulsors, quickly ended it.

Bruce winced a bit, his hand jumping to his shoulder in an attempt to stem the bleeding. Stark was quickly at his side, and he had the absolute audacity to look concerned. "You okay there Bats?" He was fiddling with some sort of scanner, and pointing it in Bruce's direction. "Hold still and let me scan it." He snapped when Bruce tried to push it out of the way. "Looked like you were drowning a little there, thought you could use a hand." He said dryly, smirking a little.

"I was fine." Bruce growled, shoving him away for the second time. "Would you stop!" He snapped, glaring at the strange device-wielding Iron Man.

"Would you relax already, jeez it's just a medical scanner. You're wound tighter than Fury before his morning coffee, and that's saying something." Tony frowned, glancing at the device. "Says you took quite a hit, through and through in your right shoulder."

"I'm fine." Bruce repeated, containing a wince. "I didn't need your help."

"Right." Tony crossed his arms. "Could have fooled me, or did you mean to get shot, cornered and almost disabled?"

Bruce swiftly ignored the insult. "What are you doing here anyway? What happened to the whole alpha male pissing match you seemed so determined to have the other night?"

Tony shrugged in response, his nonchalance making Bruce's eyebrow tick a little. "Well I wasn't about to let you die, even if you _are_ trespassing in my city. It's kind of, you know, the whole superhero thing. Saving people and all that. Even occasionally other superheros, cats stuck in trees, overgrown bats with bullet wounds, you know how it is. You know, you should really repeal the whole 'no guns' thing. Don't know how you expect to keep up with us _real_ superheroes, the firepower in my hand repulsors alone is-"

"Are you done?" Bruce growled, turning away from the blathering idiot that was Tony Stark.

"Hey!" Tony snapped, offended. "A little thanks for saving your life would be appreciated. I've got better things to be doing then saving your ass from a couple of thugs who learnt to steal a car playing Grand Theft Auto. I mean, let's be honest, they weren't ever getting into that thing." He motioned to the Lamborghini parked beside them that, admittedly, was not even scratched.

"I'm done with this." Bruce turned, making it clear that he was finished with this conversation - if it could even be called as much.

"Get yourself to a hospital or something!" Tony shouted from behind him. "Don't wanna be cleaning up your dead ass from some rooftop in the morning!" A rude gesture was all the response Bruce bothered with before disappearing into the night.

…

The third time, it was Tony who ran into Bruce - quite literally. The nights were still long and relatively uninteresting, despite having now spent over a month in New York he had turned up absolutely nothing in the Nightwing case and there wasn't a whole lot else to do in this strangely empty city. And if there wasn't much to do at night, then there definitely wasn't a lot to do during the day, and so Bruce had started frequenting a coffee shop that had access to wifi that he could connect his laptop to and start looking for clues online. He hadn't managed to find out much about who had originally uploaded the video of Nightwing's kidnapping that had gone viral, but then again he wasn't exactly a master computer hacker. So far all he had managed to get was that the IP address was blocked and the user was apparently untraceable.

He sighed in frustration, closing the lid of his computer. He was starting to think he was going to need to bring someone in on this case, someone who might be able to trace the origin of the video further than what he could do himself with his admittedly limited skills.

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted as the serenity of the usually quiet coffee shop was broken by the bang of the door as it was thrown open. He looked up to see an impeccably dressed man enter, his suit reeking of expense with a smart phone pressed to his ear. "No Pepper, we need the Egyptian ones." He was saying, loudly. "No they won't! What do you – no, _I_ will know, that's who!"

Bruce sighed, recognizing him at once as Tony Stark, bane of his existence in New York. Many of the other patrons traded glances and began to mutter to each other, clearly unhappy about the interruption. Tony, true to form, didn't seem to care and continued his incredibly loud conversation all the way to the counter only stopping briefly to bark an order at the barista.

Bruce frowned as he picked up his coffee and his laptop, deciding to give it a break for now and try again later. He had just turned towards the door when a large form whacked in to him, spilling his coffee all over his shirt. "What the-" Bruce turned abruptly, only to find Tony Stark standing apologetically behind him.

"God, I'm so sorry!" Tony said quickly, eyes widening as the coffee dripped down Bruce's front. "I'll call you back Pep," he said into the phone, before hanging it up and replacing it in his pocket. He quickly grabbed some napkins and offered them to Bruce. "I didn't see you."

Bruce glared, feeling the coffee soak uncomfortably through to his skin. "Are you serious?" He sighed, "This was my favorite shirt." His _only_ shirt, even. His daytime clothes weren't exactly extensive these days.

"I apologize." Tony frowned. "But you did kind of come out of nowhere."

A vein in Bruce's forehead started to tick. "Are you kidding me? I've been here the whole time. Perhaps you were just too caught up in your incredibly loud conversation to notice that there are other people on this planet besides yourself!"

Stark paused for a second, seeming to squint. "Wait, do I know you?"

Bruce's heart jumped slightly, before settling. He couldn't possibly recognize him, the only thing visible in his mask was his jaw. "No." He said firmly, starting to turn away.

Stark grabbed his arm, spinning him back around. "Wait yes I _do_ know you! It's Bruce right? Bruce Wayne? We met at that fundraiser that time. With the fountains? Tony Stark." He added, as if Bruce hadn't known, and held out his hand. "I heard you were dead!"

Bruce sighed, he felt like it was becoming a habit around Stark. "Oh, right." He said grudgingly. "Yeah, I remember you. And no, I didn't die. Obviously."

"Look, I'm really sorry about your shirt, ok? I'm an ass. Let me buy you another one and you can tell me about how you didn't die." Tony apparently didn't require an answer, as he was already striding back to the counter and demanding another of whatever Bruce had ordered earlier. Bruce reluctantly took his seat again, wondering how he could make his escape without being rude.

When Tony returned he placed the coffee in front of him, sipping his own as he did so. "So, _not_ dead? Is there a story there?"

Bruce shrugged. "Not really. I left Gotham right before the occupation," He ignored the familiar twinge that often accompanied any mention of his old city. "I guess when I wasn't there afterwards it was assumed that I had died there. Many people did. I just never bothered to correct them."

Tony leaned forward, looking interested after he mentioned the occupation. "Interesting. So you don't know anything else about what happened there?" Bruce frowned, not sure what he was getting at. "I just mean, the whole thing seemed kind of dodgy - like they weren't telling us the whole story. They forbid us from going anywhere near it you know, the Avengers I mean." He paused for a second. "We thought we could help but they were worried the bomb would be set off if any of us went anywhere near the place."

"It probably would have been." Bruce confirmed with a grimace. "That Bane guy, he wasn't fucking around. A friend of mine is a cop who was there through the whole thing, he told me it was only seconds away from going off in the end. He was going to kill everyone."

"But Batman saved the day." Tony murmured with a small smile. "Pretty impressive, huh?"

"I guess…" Bruce said hesitantly, not liking where this was going.

"What, you don't like Batman?" Tony laughed. "I thought all you Gothamites worshiped the guy."

Bruce pursed his lips. "Not all of us." He said finally, thinking back to the years of persecution Batman had faced after Harvey Dent's death.

"Hmm." Tony hummed. "Well I think it's impressive, I mean here's a guy with no powers, just some crazy ass martial arts skills. I mean, he doesn't even have any decent weaponry, and he still holds his own." He grinned suddenly before adding, "Most of the time anyway."

"I suppose." Bruce said noncommittally, trying to think of a way to change the subject. Luckily, he didn't need to.

"Oh!" Tony said suddenly. "I should go, I'm supposed to be on my way to some benefit thing. You know how they go." He rolled his eyes. "Hey, you should come! Make a big Bruce Wayne is back from the dead re-entrance to society. I _love_ those!"

Bruce shook his head. "I was planning to stay dead, if you get my drift. Didn't really think I'd be recognized out here." He said with a frown.

"Right!" Tony pointed his hand like a gun and clicked. "Gotcha, keep it on the D-L and all that."

"I would appreciate that." Bruce confirmed with a small smile.

"Well I should be going, nice seeing you, we should do lunch some time!" Bruce nodded vaguely. "Great! I'll have Pepper call you or something."

"Uh…" Bruce began. "I don't exactly have a phone. Just…I'm here often, I'm sure we'll run into each other." He said grudgingly.

"Alright, later Wayne." Tony waggled his fingers over his shoulder, before finally leaving the coffee shop. Bruce was left feeling like he had survived a hurricane.

…

A few weeks later, and it was becoming clear that Tony Stark considered them to be friends. While his night time encounters with Iron Man had been restricted to a few, brief occasions where they had done nothing much more then get in each other's way and argue about territory, his daytime encounters with Tony Stark were becoming far too frequent for Bruce's liking. For one, he was Tony Stark. For two, he was arrogant and annoying. And for three, well, he was _Tony Stark_ and that was enough to irritate him.

At one point the thought had occurred to him – had he been quite so insufferable as Bruce Wayne back when he had been using the billionaire playboy façade to throw suspicion off his identity as Batman? But then, no he decided, he had been nothing like Stark. Stark was frustratingly arrogant and far too cocky for Bruce's liking. He was self-centered and so completely immature that it drove Bruce crazy at times. His sense of humor was way over the top and he could never take anything seriously, in short he was a frustrating, annoying human being and Bruce had no idea why Stark felt the need to befriend him. Surely he wasn't that bored that he needed Bruce's company, after all he lived with a bunch of superheroes that were probably far more interesting than Bruce. Bruce had been perfectly satisfied on his own, he didn't need a guy like Tony Stark complicating everything.

And yet, Stark was persistent, and regardless of why Stark had chosen to befriend him it had definitely happened. And so, while enjoying his normal coffee he was interrupted by what was becoming a usual occurrence – the loud and obvious entrance of Tony Stark. Bruce wondered not for the first time why he had not yet bothered to find a new coffee shop.

"Hey Brucie." Tony greeted, sliding into the booth opposite him. "Watcha been up to?" He didn't even give Bruce a chance to respond before launching into his own tale. "So you won't believe what happened to me today. I was in this budget meeting – most boring thing on the planet, never run your own company I'm telling you, more trouble than it's worth. Well, I guess you'd know that already wouldn't you. Anyway, so I'm in the meeting and there's this total _douche_ of a financial manager…"

Bruce tuned out, sighing to himself silently. Why did he put up with this? What was there to gain from these mundane conversations with Tony God damn Stark? He was Batman for Christ's sake, he should be out finding more leads on the Nightwing case, or at the very least performing some kind of civil duty. Not sitting in a coffee shop listening to Stark ramble on yet again.

"And so I said 'fuck you, I'm Iron Man! If I want canons then I'll make myself some fucking canons!" Tony finished, laughing loudly. "Man, you should have seen his face!"

"Why?" Bruce blurted, his mouth moving ahead of his brain. "I mean, why are you here?" He added at Tony's puzzled look.

"What do you mean?" Stark said carefully, frowning slightly. "We always meet here."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Yes." He said slowly. "But why? You come here a few times a week, ramble at me for twenty minutes and then rush off to do whatever it is that you do. I don't really understand what you want from me."

"I thought we were friends." Tony, to his credit, looked genuinely confused. "Isn't that what friends do?" His face closed off. "What, you don't like my stories?" He said defensively, slipping into what Bruce liked to call his defensive humor mode. Whenever he felt insulted or demeaned he seemed to close off and throw out a few jokes almost as if to protect himself from what he perceived as a threat to his pride.

Bruce sighed, feeling a little guilty. "No, I'm sorry. I just, don't really understand why you keep coming back to talk to me." Did he think that befriending Bruce Wayne would be beneficial to him? Bruce didn't really know how, after all being dead meant his connections were pretty much nonexistent.

Tony gave a guarded shrug, looking more defensive by the second. "Just bored I guess." He snapped.

Bruce furrowed his brow, fully taking in the man before him. Could it be? Was Tony Stark really just lonely? Tony was clearly irritated, his fingers drumming a quick pattern on the table as his eyes narrowed. He had evidently taken great offence to Bruce's probing, although he had not intended to insult him, only to understand. But looking at him now, Bruce was suddenly unsure if he had misjudged him. He knew himself what it was to play a façade, and to have to hold up a mask to hide yourself from others – he had done it for years and years. He also knew just how tiresome it became. His own mask had alienated Bruce from the world faster and more effectively than anything else in his life, almost creating and unreachable barrier between him and the rest of the world. Even now, so long since he had played the role, he felt like the barrier still remained, yet to be torn down. Suddenly Bruce felt a slight empathy for Tony - he may not have a secret identity as Bruce had, but did that not almost make it worse in a way? Everyone looked at Tony and _knew_ he was Iron Man, he had no one to hide behind during the day, and so his persona was his mask. It had to be exhausting.

"I'm sorry." Bruce said again. "I didn't mean we weren't friends. I just meant…" He paused for a moment, taking in Tony's suspicious gaze. "Well, how about we do something else for a change instead of just sitting here in this coffee shop."

Tony didn't look completely appeased, but he did give a small smile. "Sure Brucie, what did you have in mind?"

…

The next few weeks were different, after Bruce's revelation and somewhat understanding of Tony Stark. They hung out like normal people, and did normal things. Tony had even taken him to the Avengers tower where he had shown Bruce all his (amazing) inventions, and at the same time managed to make Bruce feel much less intelligent than he ever had felt before in his life. And yes, Tony was still immature and frustrating at times, but he was also funny and genuine and incredibly smart. Bruce often found himself in absolute awe listening to Tony as he went off on a tangent about nuclear physics, or advanced quantum mechanics or even occasionally something he called the bifrost and the theory behind replicating the bridge between Midgard and Asgard. Bruce understood absolutely none of it, which was slightly annoying at times, but he quickly got used to being left completely behind every time Tony talked about anything related to his work.

But to his surprise they got along rather well, and Bruce soon found himself genuinely enjoying the other man's company. Tony sometimes felt like a kindred spirit. Bruce didn't know if it was just a superhero thing, but there was something about Tony that he just understood. It was incredibly strange for Bruce at first; he wasn't used to having friends. He hadn't had a normal relationship in his life since before Batman. After Batman began he had either been Billionaire Bruce – the dense but charming CEO of Wayne Enterprises who didn't have a clue, or he had been Batman, the serious and dedicated hero of the city. He had never had a chance to just be Bruce, whoever that was, and had never had anyone who knew him for what he was and not what he tried or pretended to be. It was a strangely liberating feeling.

There were times when he would catch a flash of something in Tony's face and realize that there was something seriously plaguing his friend, but he had not yet found the right moment to ask what it was about. Tony didn't seem to want to share, he brushed off personal questions like a pro and the only upside to that was that he didn't seem inclined to ask any personal questions himself either. Other than their very first coffee shop conversation he had never again asked about Gotham's occupation, perhaps he had sensed that it was a sore subject, or maybe he just wasn't really interested in Gotham. Bruce didn't know but he was grateful that he didn't ask – coming up with something believable to say would not be easy, and with a man as smart as Tony anything he said would be carefully analysed. He couldn't risk Tony getting any hints that had anything to do with him being Batman. While relations between Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne were good, Batman and Iron Man were still quite fierce rivals. Bruce shuddered to think what would happen to their budding friendship if Tony found out now that he was Batman, but he knew it wasn't something he wanted to find out. No, that was definitely something he needed to avoid at all costs.

He had still gotten nowhere with the Nightwing case. There was absolutely nothing in New York, and the only clue he had – the video – was beyond his computer skills to figure out. The thought had crossed his mind several times to ask for Tony's help in tracing the video, after all Tony was a technological genius. What was impossible to Bruce would probably be child's play for Tony and his incredibly technological brain. However he had just been unable to think of an explanation of why he needed the video traced that would make any sense and that wouldn't tip Tony off that he was Batman.

If Tony found out he was looking for Nightwing then it was only a small step to think that maybe Batman was too. And if that thought occurred to him…well, it would only be a matter of time before a man as smart as Tony put two and two together. Bruce wasn't exactly sure why he cared so much about losing Tony's friendship over finding out he was Batman, but if he was honest with himself (which he rarely was) he knew it could just be put down to a simple fact – he was just as lonely as Tony, and without him he would have no one at all in this lonely city.

...

As the weeks dragged on Bruce was starting to feel guilty over his lack of progress on the Nightwing case. Here he was, hanging out with Tony Stark and playing with all his cool technology, instead of looking for the kidnapped superhero he had vowed to find. He had been in New York now for nearly three months and had found absolutely nothing; it was enough to drive him crazy wondering what he was missing. He was starting to think he was being played, maybe there was nothing here to find at all. Maybe there never had been anything to find, and yet he couldn't give up and leave without knowing for sure. He knew what he had to do; he had to get some help. If the video was his only lead then he needed to find someone who could figure it out. Well, the problem wasn't finding someone – he already knew _exactly_ who to ask. The problem was sacrificing his pride and going to Stark as Batman and asking for help.

He just couldn't do it. Iron Man was a class A Asshole to Batman, who had done nothing but insult him, insinuate that he wasn't a 'real superhero' and continually remind him of that one time he had interfered in the fight that Batman had already been winning, thank you very much. And now he had to find him, and ask for his help. It was shameful.

But he had to do it. He was failing Nightwing every second that he sat on this and didn't act. He should have done it weeks ago, there was no excuse. He had to enlist Iron Man's help, and he had to do it now. And so he found himself standing on a rooftop, wondering just how to get Iron Man's attention. Until now Iron Man had always been the one to seek him out, and Bruce wasn't exactly sure what the man of metal did at night when he wasn't interfering with Bruce's battles or lecturing him on the meaning of the word territory. He hung around on the same rooftop where he had first met Iron Man for a few nights, but the other superhero never came. So he tried just going back to his normal routine of taking down bad guys, and hoping Stark would eventually show up as he sometimes did. He didn't. It was becoming clear that if Bruce wanted this video sorted out soon, he was going to have to go to Iron Man, and that meant visiting the Avengers tower.

Resigned, Bruce started to head over to the tower when on the fifth night Iron Man still did not show. He had yet to run into any other Avengers when he had visited with Tony as Bruce, but he had a feeling that turning up as Batman might be a different story. Would Stark even cooperate? He had no reason to after all, and had made his disdain for Bruce's even being in his city very well known to him over the past few months. Despite admitting to Bruce that he was actually impressed with Batman, it seemed that Stark was determined to not let Batman know that and to continue acting like he was an inferior superhero. It was frustrating, but save revealing his identity there was nothing Bruce could do to change it, and so he put up with the insults and insinuations every time they ran into each other on the streets.

So he found himself standing outside the Avengers tower, wondering if she should ring the doorbell or just sneak in. Then again, this was Stark's house, and if he tried to sneak in he would probably be killed by some kind of technological building security. Doorbell it was then.

He rang the doorbell, feeling more than a little stupid, and then waited. A light on top of a panel beside the door turned on, flashing slightly in his face. "State your name, visitor." A robotic voice ordered.

Bruce blinked. "Batman." He growled finally.

There was a brief pause, before the door in front of him suddenly unlocked. "Accepted, please proceed to the foyer."

Waiting inside was a tall, very broad man wearing track pants and a singlet. He head neatly combed hair and a welcoming smile, definitely not Stark.

"Batman, hello!" He greeted a little over enthusiastically. "So great to finally meet you!" Bruce grunted, ignoring the offered hand. "I'm Captain America, you can call me Steve." He said with a welcoming smile.

Captain America, right. Of course. Tony had mentioned offhand that the Captain was the only Avenger that currently lived in the tower permanently. He had also heavily insinuated that he was some kind of astronomical asshole, which definitely did not match up with the friendly man in front of him.

"I am here to speak to Iron Man." Bruce said swiftly, interrupting the Captain's introduction. "It is important."

The Captain blinked, before nodding slowly. "Okay…well Stark's in his lab at the moment, but I suppose we can go down and see if he will see you. He's a bit preoccupied, as always." He said with a frown. "Follow me."

They got in an elevator and went down several floors, heading for the same place Bruce had visited several times before – Tony's lab. It was probably the place Tony spent the most of his time, always working on something Bruce didn't understand at all. They were soon standing outside the lab, Rogers with his hand on the intercom.

"Stark." He began. "Someone's here to see you."

"Busy." Tony's irritated voice snapped through the intercom. "Don't care."

"Stark." Rogers was clearly annoyed. "It's Batman."

"Like I said, _busy_, and furthermore-" The voice paused. "Did you say Batman?" The door abruptly opened with a hiss. "Come on in, Bats!" Tony called from inside. "Not you Rogers, you can leave." He snapped as Steve made to follow him. Steve glared, before turning around and stalking back to the elevator.

"Not enough to invade my city, you invade my tower too?" Tony quipped, removing what looked like a welding visor. "Just kidding, what brings you to my humble abode?"

Bruce frowned, crossing his arms. Now was the part where he was supposed to hand over the video data and ask for help. Looking at Stark's cocky smile though, it seemed so much harder than he had anticipated. He sighed, resigning himself, and held out the USB. "Can you trace this?" He grunted, as Tony took the USB with a look of mild curiosity.

Stark stared at him for a moment, waiting for something. He did not oblige. "Oh come on Bats, I'm gonna need a little bit more than that to go on. Now if you want my help, spill."

Bruce glared, meeting Stark's equally determined gaze. He held it a moment, waiting, before finally accepting defeat. "That contains the video that depicts Nightwing's fight and subsequent kidnapping. I need to find out where it came from in order to find the suspect."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You're looking for Nightwing?" He said with surprise. "That's why you're here? Why are you looking in New York?"

"There was some evidence left at the scene that led me here." Bruce growled. "However since there has been nothing, so the video is the only clue we have."

"Right, and you want me to trace its origins and find out who uploaded it?" Bruce nodded the affirmative. "Piece of cake!" Tony turned back towards the computer. "I'll do it right now." He plugged in the USB, calling out orders to Jarvis, his butler-like AI, as he did so. He continued in this fashion for several minutes, simultaneously typing and calling out the Jarvis as he went.

Finally he stopped, sighing as he leaned back in his chair. "Okay, so maybe this is gonna take a bit more juice to crack." He frowned. "There's some impressive programming here, we'll get around it eventually but Jarvis is going to need some time to analyse the coding."

Bruce folded his arms. "You can't do it? Because if you can't I'll find someone else who can." He snapped.

Tony chuckled. "Good luck with that Bats." He shook his head in amusement. "Trust me, if I can't crack this then no one can. I'm just _that_ good. It'll happen, it just isn't gonna happen today. Jesus, grow some patience would you?"

"Fine." Bruce growled. "Find me when you're finished." With that, he spun on his heel and quickly left the tower in his typical abrupt fashion.

…

The next day Bruce and Tony were in Tony's lab, hanging out as they usually did. Bruce had noticed Tony was a little more preoccupied than usual, and quite a bit frustrated too if he was reading him correctly. Bruce wondered how he was going with the Nightwing video, and if that was the reason for his higher than usual irritation levels, but of course he couldn't ask him outright.

"Something bothering you today Tony?" He asked finally, when the finger tapping and angry twitching reached unbearable levels.

Tony spun around on his chair, throwing a ball around as he did so. "Nope, nothing at all, why would you think that?" Tony said in his typical Tony-avoidance way.

Bruce frowned. "Okay…" He gave Tony a knowing look, and waited.

He cracked. "Oh fine, jeez what are you, my therapist?" Bruce waited again, and was finally rewarded for his patience. "I'm working on this thing for someone and it's not as easy as I thought it would be. Plus, Captain America's a douche. Like the biggest, douchiest douche bag there ever was." So it wasn't just about the video.

"Hmm." Bruce hummed neutrally. "Well, I probably can't help you much with the secret project. But maybe you need to work on the whole Captain America thing. I mean, he lives with you."

"Ugh don't remind me." Tony rolled his eyes. "Give us your tower, they said. All the Avengers can live together as one big happy fucking family, they said. And then Bruce went back to India, Clint and Nat are suddenly on some super secret, super long mission, and Thor's fucked off back to Asgard and I'm left here on my own with Captain Bloody America breathing down my neck and making fun of my work." Bruce was suddenly wishing he hadn't initiated this conversation, and that they could go back to talking about unimportant things, because this was starting to look like a huge can of worms.

"So he moves in here, all full of team spirit and togetherness, except when it comes to not being a fucking asshole to the person whose fucking house this is. I mean Christ, he acts like he's a bloody saint and I'm the big bad wolf, just because I used to manufacture weapons and maybe I insulted him once, and he just can't let it go." Tony seemed to be gaining steam. "And I've tried to be nice to him, even did the whole 'hey, you know that thing I said about your awesomeness coming from a bottle? Yeah, sorry about that' thing after the battle of New York and he still takes it all the wrong way and acts like I've killed his fucking puppy or something. I mean, give me a break, I may not be perfect but he has a stick stuck so far up his ass that even Thor couldn't get it out."

Was he finished? Bruce wasn't sure, so he waited a moment. When he didn't continue, Bruce decided it was his turn. "Uh…Yeah. I mean, he seems like an asshole. On TV that is." He frowned. "Well, okay so he doesn't. He actually comes across really well meaning and nice, but that's part of the problem isn't it? He tries to make you look like the bad guy."

"Exactly!" Tony latched on to this new point. "Every fucking time! Like oh, look how amazing I am and oh Stark's just blown something up again, look how rash and stupid and arrogant he is, letting the whole team down again."

Bruce nodded in sympathy. "That's tough Tony." He didn't really know what to say, this was the part of friendships that typically baffled him.

Tony wasn't finished. "And it's like he just conveniently forgets that in the battle of New York I was the one who flew into a fucking black hole with a missile to save everyone while he just sat back and was all 'close the portal!' while I _died_! He's a fucking douche. It's been six months since that battle and he's still never even bothered to apologize for calling me too selfish to make the sacrificial call, even _after_ I proved him wrong."

And, that's right, Bruce thought as a wave of memory crashed in to him. He remembered watching the news in shock as Iron Man flew a missile into a space portal on live TV. There were several long seconds where it looked like he was gone, in fact, the portal had been starting to close. Finally though, he had fallen through and had been caught by the hulk and revived. Bruce remembered watching, anxious for the man he didn't even know who had so easily sacrificed himself for his city. It was something Bruce could appreciate.

"Maybe you should talk to him about it?" Bruce suggested, once Tony seemingly finished his rant and went back to glaring at the table. "Maybe he's finding it just as hard as you are, after all if you're feeling lonely here-" He deftly ignored the sharp glare Tony sent his way for that comment. "Then he might be feeling the same way, this is a very big tower for just two people who hate each other." Tony seemed to at least be considering his words, which was a start Bruce supposed. "Does he have anyone else you could mention something to who could maybe talk to him about it? Go through a middle man so to speak?"

Tony shook his head slowly. "No. No, he…well, you probably don't know the story, but he basically was only recently defrosted after spending seventy years as an ice cube. He's from the forties, and he hasn't exactly gone out and embraced the future. He doesn't have any other friends I guess, except the other Avengers, but they're all gone for the time being."

Bruce frowned. "You are definitely going to have to elaborate on that at some point." Frozen in ice? Bruce shook his head in confusion. "So he has no one else?" Tony nodded, and was that guilt Bruce spied on his face? "So maybe he really does need you Tony. Maybe you need to reach out to him, and make a bigger effort to clear all this up between you." He waved his hand to stop Tony from interrupting. "And do it without the attitude and the sarcasm that I know you wouldn't have been able to contain the first time you tried to apologize, and maybe he will listen."

"Are you saying you think this whole thing is my fault?" Tony asked, looking incredulous and angry at the same time.

"No." Bruce said carefully. "But I'm saying that I think you both have a part in it, and that this isn't going to be resolved unless you give up a little pride and apologize properly. Sincerely, and without any jokes or sarcasm. He probably thinks you are making fun of him, not taking him seriously as a leader. If you say it properly he can't take it badly, and then I'm almost certain he will apologize too and make an effort to make things right. You need to do it Tony, what happens when the Avengers are re-assembled and you can't trust each other out in the field? It's a recipe for disaster."

"You're right." Tony said finally, looking like it pained him to do so. "I'll try okay? Jeez." He sighed, picking up the ball again. "You're so damn naggy. Naggy nanny Brucie." He grumbled.

"Well if it gets you to do the right thing…" Bruce smiled, catching the ball Tony threw. "Now tell me about this secret project you're working on." He said, probably not so subtly.

Tony frowned, probably wondering why he was interested, before launching into an explanation of the entire Nightwing case. He didn't mention Batman or his role in it at all, and instead made it sound like he was looking into this for his own reasons. Bruce realized that Batman was supposed to be dead after all, and was suddenly grateful that Tony at least seemed to be trying to keep his living status a secret even though Batman had never specifically asked him to.

"And hey, wait!" Tony suddenly exclaimed in the middle of his explanation. "I totally forgot, you're from _Gotham_! You probably know all about this then?"

Bruce paused before shaking his head. "No, not really." He lied. "I've been out of Gotham for nearly two years now, and I didn't keep up with events after I moved. I had heard of Nightwing briefly, but I don't really know much about his disappearance."

"Oh. Well, basically someone filmed it and put it on youtube. I'm trying to work out where the video came from, but whoever this guy is he's either a computer God or he has one on his payroll, it's a pretty impressive firewall." Tony said, clearly frustrated.

"What, someone more technologically skilled than _you_?" Bruce joked. "Couldn't possibly be."

"You're right, they aren't." Tony said with a wry grin. "I'm in the middle of the program that will crack it now; it's just taking a bit longer than I thought. Give it about 24 hours and I'll be through. Thing is though, this guy's been missing for like four months already. I'm not completely sure that there will be anything left to find, if you get my drift. "

Bruce frowned, eyes hardening. "But justice still needs to be served!" He said angrily. "The kidnapper, killer, whatever – he still needs to be caught and brought to justice. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with it!"

"And he won't," Tony assured him. "That's why I'm trying anyway." His brow furrowed slightly in confusion. "You know, for someone who says they're done with Gotham you certainly care a lot about this." Tony said, giving him a knowing look.

Bruce signed, running a hand through his hair. "I guess no matter how long you've been away from your home it never really stops being home, does it?" He said finally. "And as much as I want to hate Gotham and blame the city for everything terrible that's happened there I can't help loving it too." Lost in his thoughts, he missed the speculative look that crossed Tony's face briefly.

"You're right," Tony said finally. "I know exactly how you feel. New York is like that for me, it's the lonely city – full of people yet at the same time it's completely empty. But that's what makes it New York, you want to hate it for the same reasons you love it."

And for once Bruce thought, maybe someone does know how he feels.

…

The next night he made a point of hanging out on an obvious rooftop, hoping Tony would have some information on the video for him. He was right, and just a few minutes later Iron Man made his appearance, landing smoothly beside him.

"Bats." He greeted, almost politely. They were making progress.

"Stark." He returned coolly.

"Still haunting buildings and just generally failing as a superhero?" Okay, so maybe that's a no to the progress. Tony cut off his indignant growl, continuing quickly. "I've cracked the video." He announced, voice dripping with pride. "It was a tough one, whoever did it had some serious skill, but in the end the best man won. Me, _obviously_." Obviously, Bruce thought, wanting to punch him in the face for his cocky attitude. "Well, and Jarvis. But he's basically me anyway, I made him. Anyway, I have a location of where the video was sent from. It's actually really close, just outside of New York, so I guess you were right about it being here after all."

Bruce nodded. "What's the address?"

"No, wait a minute." Tony said, shaking his head. "If you're checking it out now then I'm coming with you. I did all the hard work after all."

"No." Bruce said firmly. "This doesn't concern you. Your assistance is appreciated, but I can take it from here."

Tony crossed his arms, oozing stubbornness and determination. "I'm coming with, or you don't get the address."

Bruce growled, fighting down the urge to lunge for the annoying asshole's throat. "You are not coming with me, and that's final." He would not back down, he would win this fight. He was stronger and bigger, twice as determined and at least three times as stubborn as the sarcastic joker that stood before him, there was no way Iron Man was winning this one.

…

"Left here." Tony quipped, amusement in his voice.

Bruce growled, but made the left turn. God damn irritating, arrogant, immature –

"Oh stop brooding already would you? They can hear your grumbling thoughts in Canada at this rate. Right here!" Bruce quickly swerved the car to the right. "It's just up here, should be some kind of big building or warehouse judging by the map." Sure enough, in front of them was a large ominous looking warehouse. Super villains, Bruce thought, no creativity at all.

They pulled up outside and waited a moment as Tony quickly scanned the warehouse for heat signatures. "There's no one in there." He announced, and they got out of the car. They approached cautiously, but it turned out there was no need – the door was wide open and there was no one in sight. "This is starting to feel kinda trap-y." Tony whispered. "Just saying, I call trap."

"Be ready then." Bruce growled, and they entered. The warehouse was almost completely empty, just a few boxes sitting around along the wall. "Looks abandoned."

Tony nodded his agreement. "I'm still not getting any heat, highly doubt anyone's hiding in here. We'll split up and search everything for clues, but stay on your guard."

Bruce frowned, sending Tony an annoyed look. This wasn't his first rodeo after all. It was quick work, there wasn't much to search through after all, and it wasn't long before they had finished with all the boxes.

"There's nothing here." Bruce growled. Every single box had been empty.

"There must be something." Tong argued, clearly frustrated. "Jarvis, scan for prints." He waited a moment before sighing. "Nothing. Think we were set up?"

"I'm not sure." Bruce frowned. "This doesn't add up."

"You're right," Tony agreed. "This whole thing smells fishier than a can of tuna. You think whoever is behind it all could be planning an ambush?"

"Possibly. We should leave." Tony nodded and the two quickly made it back to the car. Tony took the wheel this time, complaining loudly about Bruce's lack of driving skills. To be fair, he had scraped the gutter slightly on the way there and if Tony was to be believed then it was a car worth half a million dollars.

He spent the ride back in a brooding cloud of thought, going over the whole scenario in his mind. Nothing seemed to fit together. First he had Nightwing kidnapped, filmed on video and uploaded onto the internet for the world to see. So either he was so arrogant he wanted to brag to the world about what he'd done (in which case you would think whoever had done it would claim it, especially if it was an established super villain) or despite putting it out for everyone to see he was hoping that one specific person would see it. The paper left with the bat symbol on it would indicate that the specific person was indeed Batman, but _why_? Was it someone he had put away before trying to get revenge? Someone who knew or suspected he wasn't dead and wanted to prove it? Or someone new entirely?

And then, why leave a clue leading to New York when there was nothing in New York to find? Is he biding his time? Waiting for something? What reason could he have for wanting to keep Batman in New York? None of it added up.

"-man? Bats?" Bruce snapped back to attention, suddenly realizing that he had completely tuned Tony out. "About time, get lost in Neverland or something?" He raised an eyebrow. "I said, what's our next move?"

"Nothing." Batman said finally. "I have nothing else to go on."

"Nothing at all?" Tony frowned. "I could try going over the video again, try and do a voice recognition on the henchmen, see if any of them have a record? Might be worth a shot." Tony shrugged.

Bruce agreed, and so when they arrived at the Tower he got out and entered with Tony. Tony pulled up the video and with a few orders to Jarvis, soon had all the voices that were heard in the video run through a recognition program. It took several minutes, but finally they heard a ding from the computer.

"I've got one!" Tony announced, sitting up in his seat. "Okay, let's see." A grainy picture came up onto the screen of a tall man with long dark hair pulled back into a pony tail and dark beady eyes. He had a thin face with very pronounced features and a distinctive scar that disappeared into his hairline. "Carlos Pequeno. Got a couple of priors," He scrolled down the list. "He's a fugitive, wanted for armed assault with intent to kill, last seen in…Oh, wait a minute," He paused, squinting at the screen. "We know this guy. He was part of this team of weirdos that tried to assassinate Captain America right after the battle of New York. They didn't succeed, obviously, security got them after they broke in here but they missed this guy. He got away. Been missing ever since."

Bruce frowned. "You think there's a connection?"

"Could be." Tony shrugged. "But then again, maybe not. He was working as a man for hire before all that business, it's possible he is just working for whoever's behind this. We should get Rogers up here though, he saw some of the other men that were involved, he could probably tell us if any of them are in the video. If they are then maybe it is connected."

Bruce nodded, and so Tony called for Jarvis. "Jarvis get Rogers up here will you?"

There was a slight pause before the AI responded. "Sir, Captain Rogers is currently not in the building."

"What?" Tony blinked. "He never goes out. Where did he go?"

"I cannot be sure sir. He left approximately thirty minutes ago." Jarvis replied.

"Try calling him Jarvis, use the 'Urgent' preset." Tony ordered.

"Yes sir."

They waited in silence for a few minutes before Jarvis finally interrupted. "No answer sir. That is most unlike Captain Rogers." The AI even managed to sound worried – Bruce was impressed.

"That _is_ unlike him." Tony sighed. "Oh well, we aren't going to get any further tonight. Go home, or…well wherever it is that you go." He frowned. "I'll find you tomorrow night."

Bruce nodded and took his leave.

…

The next night they met on their usual rooftop, and Bruce waited with anticipation to hear the verdict on the kidnappers. This case being connected to the Avengers would change everything – it would open up a whole new angle and a whole new set of leads.

"Bats." Tony looked distinctly worried. "Bad news." Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Rogers is missing."

"What?" Bruce asked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Tony shrugged. "Exactly what I said. He never came back last night, no trace of him today, and no calls returned."

Bruce frowned. "Are you sure he didn't just leave his phone off or something?"

Tony scoffed. "Cap's a walking rule book. He would never leave for so long without telling someone and he would never fail to return a call. He physically couldn't do it. He's been taken."

"You think it's the same person?" It would make sense, if Nightwing's kidnapper really did have a connection to Captain America.

"Yes." Tony said firmly. "This whole thing has felt off from the start. I think they used the clue in the video to lure us out to that warehouse yesterday and then took Cap while we were gone."

"It's possible." Bruce admitted with a sigh. "So this is a setup. But what did they need me for?" He wondered.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked in confusion.

"The note I found at the scene had a bat symbol on it and the message 'New York'. They targeted me specifically, but why, if their end game was Captain America? It doesn't make sense." Bruce explained in frustration.

"Maybe they just needed you to bring the video to my attention." Tony shrugged. "Maybe the reason it was so heavily encrypted was so that when you got to New York I would be the obvious choice to ask for help, and then once I figured it out I'd rush off to the warehouse and bamn, Cap's kidnapped and we're none the wiser until it's all already done."

"But then why kidnap Nightwing in the first place!" Bruce growled. "If it was about you and not me then why not just kidnap someone close to you so that you would investigate the video?"

Tony sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know. You're right, it doesn't make sense. We're missing something." Bruce nodded his agreement. "Tell me more about Nightwing, what's his deal, why is he involved in all this?"

"Nightwing?" Bruce glanced away. "I have no idea why they involved him."

Tony's eyes widened. "You think it's to get to you." He said knowingly. "Nightwing is important to you?"

"No." Bruce grunted. "I hardly know the kid."

"Well that's clearly not true." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"It _is_ true." Bruce said firmly. "Nightwing was a cop, he helped out during Bane's occupation. Was a big help actually, he is the one who freed the cops from the sewers. After everything I left him the Nightwing suit with directions only he could find. Figured a smart kid like him could continue my work, I never intended to go back to Gotham."

"But then they took him?" Tony questioned.

"Yes." Bruce affirmed. "So of course, I went back. Just like I suspect they wanted me to, and everything that's happened since has been one big setup."

"We're missing something, something that connects all this together." Tony mused.

"Most likely." Bruce agreed. "Have you got any leads on Rogers? Last known location?"

"Yes, Jarvis recorded his last location. Want to go check it out?" Bruce nodded, and they left.

…

The next day Bruce met Tony at the tower, after having found nothing at all of interest the night before. Captain America still had not shown up anywhere, so any hope they had been holding out that he would turn up on his own was slowly diminishing. Tony was clearly frustrated that morning, and it didn't take a genius to work out why.

"So…" Bruce began. "How's that Nightwing case going?" They hadn't spoken about it (as Bruce and Tony, rather than Batman and Tony) since several nights ago when Tony had first told Bruce about his frustration with the case.

Tony growled, throwing his ball with unnecessary force. "It's not." He snapped. "We have nothing to go on. Every lead has led nowhere, we even have a possible suspect but can't find a trace of him. This fucking case man," He shook his head. "It's driving me batshit crazy." He laughed to himself. "Batshit. I'll have to use that one in front of him next time." He murmured, Bruce pretended not to hear.

"Okay. And how's it going with Rogers, did you two patch it up?" He pried carefully.

Tony glowered. "You sure know how to hit a sore spot, don't you Brucie." He grimaced. "Cap has…become a part of the first problem." Bruce waited for him to elaborate. "Kidnapped," he said finally. "Just like Nightwing."

Bruce tried to look shocked and felt confident that he had succeeded. "What?"

"Yep." Tony sighed. "And we were just making progress too." At Bruce's questioning look he continued. "I spoke to him the other day, may have even said the 's' word, sincere and all. Not sure if he bought it but he played along anyway. He apologized for calling me selfish." He admitted. "And we agreed to work on it, and then he was kidnapped."

"That's terrible," Bruce sympathized. "I mean the kidnapped part, not the sort-of-made-amends part."

"Yeah." Tony sucked in a breath before changing the subject. "So what's new with you?" He paused. "What do you do all day anyway? You know, when you're not here?"

Bruce shrugged. "Just…hang around I guess." He said edgily.

Tony's eyes narrowed. "You never said why you were in New York. Some super-secret billionaire mission?"

Bruce laughed. "Firstly, not a billionaire anymore." He corrected. "Don't know if you remember but Bane basically bankrupted me with that whole stock market move. Didn't have much left by the end of it all, though I suppose it's possible that it was returned posthumously to my estate."

"And the other question?" Tony prompted.

"Oh, you got me." Bruce said sarcastically. "I'm here on a super-secret mission. How on earth did you guess? I'm here to spy on you and to try and steal your billions." He joked.

Tony watched him suspiciously for a moment before laughing. "You're right, you'd make a terrible spy. And an even worse thief. I bet you couldn't sneak around to save your life, could you." He teased.

"Hey," Bruce said, affronted. "Looks can be deceiving you know. I can be sneaky when I want to."

"Oh yes, I bet you're a right Bond, Bruce Bond, aren't you." He scoffed. "Believe it when I see it Brucie boy!"

"One day I'll prove you wrong." Bruce promised with a small smile.

"Oh, I bet you will." Tony cocked his head slightly. "I can kinda see it I guess, I bet you'd look hot in a catsuit. Probably even better then Natasha I'd wager, especially if those arms are any indication of the rest of you." He teased with a wink.

Bruce blushed, not really sure where he was going with that, and quickly changed the subject.

…

The next day when Bruce met Tony at the tower he couldn't help but notice that there was an air of awkward tension he couldn't really describe. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, all he knew was that something was a bit off, a bit different that day. Finally, unable to stand wondering any longer, he decided to just go for it.

"So, you're acting weird today." Was what finally came out of his mouth. Not exactly as specific as he had imagined, but he supposed it would do.

Tony grunted, not making eye contact. "Am I?" He said finally, sounding disinterested.

"Yeah." Bruce frowned, gesturing towards him. "You've got this whole...thing going."

"What thing." Tony said absently, still not looking up from his display screen.

"_That_ thing!" Bruce exclaimed, pointing again. "The whole being weirdly distant and not making eye contact thing."

Tony paused for a second, frowning. "Oh." He said finally. "That thing." Finally, he looked up and met Bruce's eyes. "Didn't realize I was doing it." He grinned and threw the ball he had been absently playing with at Bruce. "Stop being a worry wart Brucie."

And that, Bruce supposed, was that. He wasn't getting anything serious out of Tony, not that he was surprised really.

…

The next few days were equally frustrating for Bruce. Tony wasn't quite as strange as he had been, but something was definitely still off. He chatted away like normal, mostly about the progress (or lack thereof) on the Nightwing/Captain America case, and he still joked around like normal – but Bruce couldn't shake the feeling that there was something weird between them that hadn't been there before the last few days.

Bruce had given up asking Tony directly about it – the few times he had asked he had been met with a laugh or a joke before being told to stop taking everything so seriously. It was rather frustrating, and if Bruce was honest he thought Tony could do with some seriousness once in a while, he often acted like life was one big joke.

He tried to shake it off over the next few days, and spent a little more time with Tony as Batman to try and ease the awkwardness a bit. They still hadn't made much progress on the case, and Bruce had started trying to spend a little more time on it, as futile as it felt. After a few days of meeting him as Batman, Bruce knew he couldn't avoid Tony as Bruce much longer. Finally he couldn't make excuses any longer and caved in to Tony's invitation to the tower, agreeing to have a few drinks.

He should have known what he was in for – while he and Tony hadn't drunk together before, he knew that Tony was nothing if not excessive by character and why would drinking be any different? After about two bottles of champagne, a good bottle or so of bourbon and a few too many suspiciously colored cocktails (made proudly by Tony, who bragged of some kind of bar tending accreditation – after tasting the cocktails, Bruce believed him) they were well and truly on their way to being tipsy.

Well, _Bruce_ was tipsy. Tony, who had single handedly taken on the bourbon and most of the champagne, was pretty much blind drunk by this point and Bruce was honestly impressed that he was still standing, let alone still making cocktails.

"No more!" He exclaimed finally, falling back onto the sofa behind him. "No more cocktails!" he complained weakly as Tony stumbled over with another two and tried to place one on the table in front of the sofa. He was mostly successful, only spilling a little of the green liquid onto the table in the process.

Tony giggled, falling onto the sofa beside Bruce as he shoved the second cocktail into his hands. Bruce winced a little as the cold liquid splashed onto his shirt, staining it a bright pink. "What even _is_ this?" He wondered, holding the glass up to his eyes.

Tony shrugged, staring at it intently. "Don't remember." He mumbled finally, waving it away. "Just drink it."

Bruce shrugged and drank it, wincing at the overly sweet taste. "Think you used a bit too much cordial there Tony." He said, discarding the cocktail onto the table. "Ugh." He groaned as the aftertaste hit him. "And a bit too much vodka."

"No such thing." Tony slurred, stretching out on the sofa. He seemed to consider something intently for a moment, his face scrunching up. Finally he laughed to himself as he flung an arm around Bruce's shoulders. "You're a good friend Brucie. Who woulda thought it...Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne, billionaire best buddies. We should start a club." He said with a laugh.

"Uh…thanks." Bruce frowned. "I think you've had a bit too much to drink."

Tony shook his head vehemently. "Nope." He argued. "No such thing!"

"There definitely is." Bruce said with a sigh, taking in the sight before him – Tony sprawled all over the couch, wearing several different drinks on his shirt and pants, with a cocktail umbrella tucked behind his ear. "You're gonna have one hell of a hangover in the morning." He pointed out, blinking quickly as his vision blurred a little on the edges.

"Hangovers are for lesser mortals." Tony scoffed, sitting up a little. "Besides, 'm not that drunk. Just a little…tipsy." He finished with a grin, swaying on the sofa.

Bruce didn't bother arguing, leaning back as he closed his eyes. About time to call it a night, he thought absently. He was starting to think about where he had left his phone so he could call a taxi, when a warm breath on his face had him opening his eyes with a start. Tony was leaning over him, his eyes somewhat unfocused as he stared intently at Bruce's face.

"What the fuck, Tony!" He jumped back, pushing Tony away. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Tony whispered, leaning closer again. He stayed still for a moment, just a few inches separating them.

"Seriously, Tony." Bruce gently pushed him back once more. "I think you need to go to bed."

"I'll take _you_ to bed." He slurred, pushing Bruce down onto his back. Suddenly he was closing the gap between them, his lips crashing into Bruce's with surprising force. Bruce was too taken aback to move for a second, which Tony took advantage of and pressed him further into the sofa. His hand trailed up Bruce's chest as he deepened the kiss, Bruce starting to respond before his brain suddenly kicked in.

"Wait!" He tried to push Tony back a little, but he was having none of it. "What are you doing?" His bewilderment showed on his face, his eyes wide.

"I'm kissing you." Tony said finally, stating the obvious as he looked at him in confusion. On the list of things that Bruce had expected to happen that night, this was not high. He hadn't had any indication at all that Tony was even interested in him – that thought stopped abruptly as memories flooded into his mind. The time that Tony had joked about his ass, the time that Tony had called him sexy as a joke, the time that Tony's hand had lingered on his shoulder just a little too long, the awkwardness of the last few days…Bruce was an idiot.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Could he really have been so completely oblivious? Apparently he could. Tony had been hitting on him this entire time, and Bruce hadn't even noticed. He was so bad at having friends, it seemed, that he didn't even realize when a friendship wasn't even a friendship.

"Shit." He whispered, meeting Tony's confused gaze. "Shit!" He repeated, shaking his head.

Tony backed off, frowning. "Okay…" He said. "Getting weird?" He was panting, still breathless from earlier, but he looked like he had at least sobered up a little.

"I'm sorry Tony." Bruce groaned, falling back against the sofa. "_God_."

"Wait." Tony was clearly processing something, a little slower than usual probably due to the fact that his alcohol levels were way over his normal thinking limit. "Did you just…?" He paused with a frown. "Oh my God!" He exclaimed. "You just realized, just then?"

Bruce covered his face with his hands, the alcohol he had drank doing nothing to alleviate his embarrassment at the situation. "Maybe." He sighed.

"But I've been hitting on you for like, ever!" Tony looked a little insulted. "Man, either I'm way off my game or you're just a special kind of ignorant."

"I didn't-" Bruce struggled to find the words. "I'm not even gay!" He settled on finally.

Tony scoffed. "So? You seemed to be enjoying it before."

Bruce paused, thinking back on the brief moment he had returned the kiss before coming to his senses. So maybe he _had_ enjoyed it. "Jesus." He sighed. "I don't even…" He shook his head.

"I can go." Tony frowned, starting to sit up. He wavered slightly, before righting himself. "Let you figure…all this out." He looked disappointed, and worse, insulted – but prideful as ever he was clearly trying to contain it.

"No." He grabbed Tony's sleeve. "Don't go." Tony frowned, but leaned back against the sofa anyway. "This isn't your fault…" Bruce trailed off. "You just surprised me."

"So," Tony started, leaning closer again. "Wanna try again?" Bruce hesitated for a moment, thinking it over, before nodding slightly.

"Why not?" He whispered, throwing away his common sense. Tony grinned, wasting no time in making sure or double checking. 'Why not' was apparently more than good enough for him. He leaned forward once more, this time taking a little more time. Finally his lips met Bruce's, moving softly against them. It was almost tender this time, much less forceful than his earlier attempt. Bruce leaned into it, accepting Tony's unspoken request for entry. Soon their tongues were intertwined, Bruce moaning deeply as Tony showed him his expertise. After a long moment Tony pulled away, meeting Bruce's gaze with his own heated one.

"God, I've been waiting forever to do that." Tony breathed.

"Worth it?" Bruce asked with a grin.

"You bet it was." He quipped. Bruce didn't bother answering, instead leaning forward to reclaim Tony's mouth. He closed his eyes, leaning into the kiss as Tony's arms circled around him and pulled him close. After a long moment he pulled away, meeting Tony's searching gaze once more.

"We should talk about this Tony." He said finally, leaning back slightly so that there was a few inches of space between them.

"Bruuuce!" Tony whined, leaning forward. "Do we have to talk about it right now?" He licked his lips, eyes clouded.

Bruce watched the motion, starting to lean forward slightly before shaking his head. "We should…" He whispered, his hand firm against Tony's chest. "We really-"

Tony darted forward, cutting him off in the most effective manner he knew how – with a kiss. Bruce gave up with a sigh and placed his hands on the other man's waist, losing himself in the kiss.

…

Waking up was not so pleasant, and happened far too early in Bruce's opinion. He was woken around seven by the cultured accent of the house AI, managing to sound both amused and vaguely disapproving at the same time.

"Good morning Mr. Stark, Mr. Wayne. Sir, if I might remind you about your eight AM meeting with the board you have scheduled for this morning." Jarvis announced primly.

"Fuck." Bruce turned slightly at the voice, seeing Tony lying haphazardly on the sofa beside him, a blanket carelessly thrown over him. "Fuck it." Tony swore again, starting to sit up. "Jesus fuck Jarvis. Why didn't you remind me about that fucking meeting." He growled, rubbing a hand across his eyes.

"I just did sir." Jarvis sassed, sounding a little pissed off.

Bruce frowned, wondering how an AI could have moods. His thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his arm, and he looked up to see Tony staring at him expectantly.

"Morning Bruce." He said with a yawn. "Feeling okay?"

Bruce frowned, he did have quite a persistent headache, but all in all he was probably fine. "Yeah I'm okay. What about you? Headache?" He teased as Tony rubbed his head.

"_Man_." Tony sighed. "This meeting's gonna be a bitch." Tony started to get up, still looking half asleep and bleary.

"I should go." Bruce said, sitting up as well. "Only…" he paused, looking up at Tony. "We should probably talk about this." He gestured to the two of them, and to their abandoned clothes on the floor.

Tony frowned, turning away to grab his shirt off the floor. "I guess, if we absolutely have to." He said reluctantly.

Bruce waited, but Tony didn't say anything else, so he took the lead. "What is this?" He went straight for the big question, almost regretting it as Tony's eyes widened.

He sighed. "What do you mean? I thought it was obvious."

"Is it?" Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm still confused."

Tony's face scrunched up into a frown. "Jesus Bruce." He ran a hand through his hair. "Do you have to define everything? Look let's just…" He trailed off, before starting again. "It was fun, right?" He looked to Bruce for confirmation, who nodded. "So let's keep doing it. See how it goes." Bruce frowned, still confused. "Look I've got a lot to do today, but I'll be back around six. Can we do dinner?"

"Sure." Bruce agreed, pulling on his own shirt. "Have a good meeting."

"I'll try." Tony frowned. "But somehow I doubt it."

...

From then on everything was different between them - and yet at the same time nothing really changed. They still hung out almost daily in the same capacity as before, only with the addition of more...intimate activities. Almost a week after their first night together Bruce found himself lying awake in Tony's bed, unable to fall asleep. After that first night Tony had started bringing Bruce up to his personal living quarters in the tower, a few floors above his lab. Bruce wasn't complaining since the bed was a lot more comfortable than the couch, but Tony had a habit of falling asleep afterwards before Bruce was able to make a quick escape.

He sighed and glanced out the window where the moon was high in the sky, it was well after midnight and Bruce was itching to leave and begin his nightly routine as Batman. However Tony was making it difficult that night, as he had somehow managed to drape himself around Bruce, entangling their legs under the blankets. Bruce frowned, gently taking his arm and trying to roll him back slightly without waking him, wiggling out from under him.

"Bruce…" Tony groaned softly, opening his eyes blearily. "What're you doing?"

Bruce swore under his breath, pausing in his escape attempt. "Nothing, go back to sleep." He whispered.

"You leaving?" Tony asked, rolling over to face Bruce with a yawn.

Bruce hesitated before nodding slowly. "I probably should." Other than that first night Bruce had avoided staying the night with Tony, always leaving soon after he fell asleep.

"You can stay…" Tony mumbled, his face against Bruce's side. "If you want to…"

Bruce lay still, their breathing the only sound in the room. He glanced down to see Tony looking up at him, some unidentifiable emotion in his eyes.

"Alright." he said finally, letting his head fall back onto the pillow. "I suppose I can stay." It wasn't like there was much to do as Batman in New York anyway, the city would last one night without him.

"Good." Tony mumbled, burrowing closer into Bruce's side.

That night changed things for them once again, Tony now expected him to stay on the night's that he visited the tower. Bruce found that he oddly didn't mind, and while he felt a little guilty for not doing his work as Batman on those nights he quickly grew accustomed to waking up with Tony, the other man usually wrapped around him somehow.

To his surprise Tony was much more affectionate and tactile than Bruce would have thought, he seemed to crave physical reassurance from Bruce whenever they were together. That was another thing that Bruce was surprised at how much he didn't mind - in the past he had always disliked physical contact and avoided it where possible, but with Tony it was somehow okay. The only thing that _did_ irritate Bruce about their arrangement was Tony's refusal to discuss it at all.

Tony steadfastly refused to bring it up at all with Bruce, leaving him a little unsure of where they stood. Were they just two friends having a good time? Or were they in a relationship? Bruce wasn't sure, and he was itching to clarify it with Tony. However Tony seemed just as determined to never, ever discuss it, leaving Bruce feeling rather frustrated. Finally after several weeks Bruce could wait no longer, and brought it up one morning while he watched Tony get dressed for another board meeting.

"What is this?" Bruce had blurted out, before he lost his nerve.

Tony stopped and blinked, frowning as he paused in doing up his shirt buttons. "What?"

He said finally.

"This." Bruce gestured between them. "What are we doing, Tony?"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked carefully, turning away to face the mirror.

Bruce stared pointedly, meeting his eyes in the mirror. "You know what I mean. You just don't want to talk about it, but I need to know where we stand."

Tony paused, turning back to Bruce. "I'm no good at this." He said finally. He sighed, stepping closer to Bruce and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I like you, I wasn't just drunk. I mean," He scratched his head. "Well I was drunk the first time, obviously. We can talk about this more tonight if you want, I promise to be serious." He said with a small grin.

Bruce laughed in spite of himself. "You? Serious?" He joked. "That'll be the day."

"It will, won't it?" Tony quipped, picking up his pants. "Tonight, I promise."

Bruce nodded. "Okay. Have a good meeting." Tony was already leaving, throwing a smile over his shoulder and a little wave. Bruce stood for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He still felt like Tony was trying to avoid the conversation that he knew they needed to have. Were they dating? Or were they just friends having a good time? He was itching to define the whole thing, but knew he would have to wait until Tony was ready to talk about it. Serious conversations were pretty much impossible for the other man, and Bruce couldn't help but worry that Tony would only brush it off again that night. He sighed, and supposed he would have to wait and see.

Bruce went back to his hotel room for a bit, deciding to try and catch up on some sleep - Tony had pulled an all nighter in the lab that night and Bruce never got much sleep on his own anymore. He woke up some time in the afternoon and found himself faced with the dilemma of finding something to do before his and Tony's hopefully enlightening conversation that evening. With a wave of guilt he remembered the case – he had managed to completely forget about it temporarily. He decided it was probably time he checked in with Gordon and found out about the situation in Gotham, and promptly went to find a payphone.

It took him a while (because really, who uses payphones these days) but eventually he found one, and put some quarters in. Realizing he didn't know Gordon's personal cell number, he dialed the number for the Gotham police department and hoped that he was in. Who was he kidding, it was Gordon, of course he would be in.

"Gotham Police Station, how may I direct your call." Came the voice of the office assistant.

"I'm calling for Commissioner Gordon." He said.

There was a slight pause. "Oh." The woman said. "The Commissioner doesn't usually take calls from this line. Is it something I can maybe help you with instead?"

Bruce sighed in frustration. "No, it has to be the commissioner. Tell him it's Bruce and I'm positive he will take the call."

"Okay sir I'll ask him, just one moment." A lot more than a moment passed, it was probably closer to about four minutes by the time the phone finally picked up again.

"Bruce?" Gordon's voice sounded worried.

"Commissioner." He replied evenly.

"Good to hear from you!" Gordon said enthusiastically. "Sorry, I had to chase a few people out before I could take the call. Didn't want anyone listening in. What can I do for you?"

"Just wanted to check if there were any leads on the case on your end." Bruce answered.

"No." Gordon sighed. "We haven't really found anything. We've had someone trying to track the origin of the video for several weeks now, but whoever did it is just too damn good. Our department's best guy can't even hack it." Bruce grinned to himself, imagining how happy Tony would be if he was listening right now.

"I cracked the video." He said.

"Of course you did." Gordon chuckled.

"With some help." He admitted. "But it led nowhere, it was a trap. While we were checking the location the perp took the chance to take another victim."

"Another victim?" Gordon said incredulously. "Who?"

"Captain America. Keep that quiet, don't want the media involved. But listen, we have the name of someone involved. I need everything any police department in this country has on one Carlos Pequeno. I haven't found much so far on him, can you get that for me?"

"Shouldn't be a problem." Gordon agreed. "But Bruce-"

"I don't want to say too much on the phone." Bruce interrupted. "When you have the info, send it to Tony Stark. He will know what to do with it. Don't mention my name, say it came from Batman."

"Will do Bruce, stay safe." Gordon said softly.

"You too." He said, before hanging up the phone.

He quickly exited the phone booth and started to make his way to back to the tower to meet Tony for dinner, when a small piece of paper sticky taped to the glass door of the phone booth caught his attention. He frowned, grabbing it quickly and unfolding it.

"_BM/BW-_

_Come to 184 Congress Drive at your earliest convenience._

_If you bring your metal friend or anyone else with you, the little bird might find himself in some trouble._"

As far as super villain notes go, it wasn't all that impressive – but still, the threat was clear. Blake's life was at stake here. He had no choice, he couldn't risk Nightwing's life and to bring Tony would only be risking his life too. This had all started with him, and Bruce would finish it himself.

Before making his way to the address, Bruce quickly made the decision to drop in on Tony and make sure he was sufficiently occupied with something to keep him out of the way. The last thing he needed was Tony stumbling upon the whole thing before he was through.

Reaching the gate he rang the doorbell, and waited.

"Bats?" Tony said through the intercom. His voice sounded intrigued, Batman never usually called on him at the tower. "Whatcha doing here?"

"Have some information for you." There was a pause, before the gate clicked open.

"Come on in." Tony said cheerfully. "So, what is it?" He said once they were both inside.

"An associate of mine is going to send you some info on the suspect." Bruce growled. "Should come through in the next few hours, you should be ready to analyse it as soon as it arrives, it could help us pin down a location for this guy."

"Okay." Tony nodded. "Who's sending it?"

"Police Commissioner Gordon, I have him compiling everything any department in the country has on this guy. Should be enough to give us some new leads." He answered, before turning to leave. "Be ready." He said finally. Tony nodded his agreement, and he left.

…

He arrived at the address about an hour later, growling when he realized it led to a national park. He sighed and resigned himself to it, mentally preparing for an attack at any moment. He made his way through the trees, slowly, following the dirt path. It was a long walk, but after about an hour of trekking the trees started to thin out into a large clearing.

Within the clearing was a large metallic building a few stories high. Bruce supposed that this was his destination, and quickly scoped it out. There was a heavy metal door at the front that was probably out of the question, but a quick look around the back revealed one small window that was cracked open slightly providing an easy way in.

He pushed the window the rest of the way open before quickly slipping inside. Soundlessly, he crept around the corner, surveying the empty metal hallway as he did so. While the sun would still be up for another hour or so, the building was completely dark. Other than the small patch of light that came in through the window, the rest of the hallway was bathed in darkness. He reached into his utility belt and fished out his night vision goggles, quickly turning them on. The goggles confirmed that the hallway was empty, and so he followed it to the end where he was presented with two staircases – one going up and floor and one presumably leading to some kind of basement. He quickly decided to start with the basement, creeping carefully down the stairs. He came to a closed door, which he slowly opened, peering inside. He could see no movement. Satisfied, he pushed the door further and took a step inside.

As he walked forward, he suddenly caught a flash of movement in the corner and spun around, only to be tackled to the ground by a very large body. He hit the ground with a grunt, instincts kicking in as he quickly rolled away, springing back to his feet. His assailant was extremely quick, and was up almost before Bruce and starting the attack again. In a flurry of green movement Bruce caught the attack from the left, swinging his leg out to kick at his attacker. It landed, but hardly seemed to faze the other man, who seemed to shrug it off before continuing his attack.

A rock solid fist slammed into his shoulder, its force managing to push him back slightly. "Jesus!" he grunted, jumping away as his shoulder began to ache. That was some hit! The man was once again moving extremely quickly, and the night vision goggles were having trouble keeping up, turning his vision into a confusing flash of green light. Bruce growled and jumped away just in time, his attacker's swing going wide and clipped him on the jaw instead of slamming into his head as was obviously the plan. Stars burst into his vision as he shook his head, that was going to leave an impressive bruise.

_This isn't working_, he thought as the man swung again. He threw himself to the ground, spinning around and landing a decent kick which once again did not even slow his attacker. He needed to take this out into the light, he was too disadvantaged in the complete darkness. He wondered how his assailant was managing to see, but figured that somehow he definitely was as his aim was impeccable. Another strike landed, this time on his thigh, and once again it was as hard as bricks.

Bruce quickly backed up, heading back for the stairs. When his attacker didn't immediately follow Bruce took his chance and bolted back up the stairs, heading for the window. He slipped through it easily, backing up away from the building and throwing his night goggles off, preparing for the fight.

He saw one red booted foot slip through the window, quickly followed by a blue clad body. Bruce's mouth fell open in shock, it couldn't be… "Captain America?" He rasped, backing away. Rogers didn't seem to hear him, his hard expression never changed as he lunged forwards. Bruce dodged quickly, finding it a little easier now that he could see properly. "Captain, it's Batman. Remember me?" He tried, holding out his hands calmingly. "You don't need to-" he was cut off by a swift kick, only inches from landing this time.

"Shit," Bruce swore, dodging quickly. "I don't want to hurt you Captain!"

The Captain didn't respond, launching into another combination of extremely fast kicks and punches. If Bruce hadn't been on the receiving end, he would have been thoroughly impressed. Instead he ducked, dodged and parried, only just barely keeping up. The man hit like a sledgehammer, and Bruce didn't want to be on the receiving end of that force again.

They continued in this strange dance for several minutes, but it was soon becoming clear that Bruce wasn't going to be able to keep up. He hadn't had a fight like this since Bane, and he was nowhere near in the physical condition he had been back then. He would be lucky to last another minute like this, and if the increase in the Captain's attacks were any indication then he knew it too.

A fist slammed into his chest, throwing him backwards with a grunt. He coughed, winded, as he rolled onto his side. His muscles screamed as he pushed himself back up onto his knees, lifting his fists to defend against the Captain, who was following through with a well-aimed kick. Bruce braced for the impact, knowing he couldn't move away in time…but it never came. He glanced up to see the Captain had stopped, and was focused on something behind Bruce.

"Well well, in a bit of trouble again I see." Bruce spun around to see Tony, in full Iron Man suit, standing behind him. "Captain," Tony began, taking a step forward. "I'm not sure what's gotten into you, but Batman's on our side." Tony waited for a response, but none came. The Captain simply stared between them both, looking like he was waiting for some kind of cue.

"Cap?" Tony tried again, to no avail. "Bats what's wrong with him?"

"I'm not sure." Bruce replied, stepping away from the still motionless Captain. "He attacked me, yet didn't seem to recognize me at all."

Tony frowned, looking concerned. "You alright? You look a little beaten up to be honest."

"I'm fine." He growled. "Guy hits like a sledge hammer."

Tony winced. "He does, doesn't he." He glanced back towards the Captain. "Should we take him out?" That question was answered for them as Captain America swiftly launched into a fresh attack, as if a switch had been flicked in his brain. This time, thankfully, he was targeting Iron Man.

"Shit." Tony swore, jumping out of the way. "I don't want to hurt you Cap," He warned, "but I will if I have to!" He began to arm the repulsors.

Rogers didn't seem to hear, continuing his attack without pause. Tony aimed a low energy repulsor at his chest. It hit, but hardly seemed to even slow him down. Tony frowned, obviously hesitant to use a stronger attack on his teammate.

Bruce jumped forward, joining the fight. "Don't use them." He growled. "If we both fight hand to hand we will be able to disable him. His attacks are quick and powerful but without strategy, he attacks both of us in exactly the same way."

Tony nodded, the repulsors disarming quickly. His arm flew up to block a hit, and while it was powerful it wouldn't harm him through the armor. He continued to block as Bruce approached, keeping the Captain's attention on him. The Captain fought like a robot, like he was programmed and not thinking for himself. His attacks were therefore easy to predict, and after just a few seconds of watching Bruce saw his opening and jumped in. He landed a solid hit on the back of the Captain's head, knocking him down almost instantly. Tony paused in his own attack, and they both waited to see if he would get up. He didn't.

Tony knelt before him, turning him over onto his back. "Cap?" He muttered. "Can you hear me?"

Bruce approached with a frown. "Didn't think I hit him that hard." He growled.

Tony ignored him, beginning to slap his cheek gently. "Rogers?" Finally he shifted slightly, his face twitching slightly. Both Tony and Bruce stepped away, readying themselves in case he attacked again. He groaned, his eyes opening.

"Cap?" Tony said carefully. "Are you with us?"

"Stark?" The Captain breathed, confusion flooding his face. "What happened? Where am I?"

Tony breathed a sigh of relief, smiling. "Finally. Jeez Cap you totally crazed out on us for a bit there."

"What?" He asked, confused. "Ahh my head hurts."

Tony traded a look with Bruce. "Well Bats did hit you kind of hard."

Bruce glared. "He clearly needed it." He snapped.

"Do you remember anything?" Tony asked. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Steve paused for a second, thinking. "We were talking. About what happened last year when the Avengers first assembled. You apologized." He frowned. "It's all a bit blurry after that."

Tony blinked. "Shit Steve, that was ages ago! You disappeared weeks ago, and we had that conversation at least two or three days before that. You don't remember anything after?"

Steve shook his head. "It's all fuzzy."

"Right," Tony sighed. "Well me and Bats are gonna go search this building. Think you'll be okay out here for a bit?"

"I can come." Steve argued, struggling to sit up as he grasped his head.

"No." Bruce said firmly, pushing him back down. "You wait here. We will be right back." Steve looked like he wanted to protest, but just sighed and nodded.

Slowly the two made their way back inside, Bruce replacing his night vision goggles and Tony activating a built in night vision feature in the suit. When they reached the staircases, this time they went up. They were met with an equally dark hallway with just one single door at the end of it.

"Ominous." Tony muttered as they crept closer. "Gonna be impossible to sneak in." He sighed.

Bruce nodded. "On three." He held up three fingers and silently counted down. As he put the third finger down the two burst through the door, Tony's repulsors armed and ready to fire.

Suddenly the lights came on, almost blinding them both. Bruce quickly hastened to take off his goggles as someone chuckled in the background.

"Ah, Batman." The voice continued. "Nice of you to finally join me." And as the light cleared from his eyes, Bruce suddenly realized why the voice was so familiar.

"Scarecrow." He growled, glowering at the masked man in front of him. He was dressed in a fancy looking black suit, with his scarecrow mask over his head. Behind him were two lines of militia men, and with a quick glance around Bruce could confirm that they lined the walls and had surrounded the two of them during the time they had been blinded. No easy escape then.

"Yes Batman, it's me." He laughed. "Oh and I see you bought your little friend, tut tut." He wagged a finger at him in amusement. "I thought I warned you what would happen if you did that, hmm?"

Tony shot Bruce a look, which he ignored. "What do you want?" He hissed.

"What do I want?" He taunted. "Oh, Batman, going to require a rather long explanation now, isn't it. But I suppose, since I'm about to kill you anyway, I can tell you first. You see, after you destroyed Bane's plans and took the atom bomb from the city, I had a feeling you weren't really dead. Call it a hunch, if you will. I spent a few months searching, a few more interrogating, and when it became clear that you were not going to resurface on your own I decided you needed a little, _push_ shall we say. That's where your little friend came in, an easy target he was."

Crane motioned to a closed door behind him. "He's here, of course. We'll get to him later. So I took your little friend and knew I needed to get you to New York – easy enough, you were surprisingly quick to catch on and get over there. I thought it would take at least a few weeks for you to come out of wherever you were hiding, and my plan wasn't quite ready. So I left you there while I made the finishing touches to my ingenious creation. I believe you've witnessed its effects already, the young Captain made an excellent test subject."

"Mind control." Bruce spat. "I should have known."

"Don't interrupt now Batsy," He warned. "But yes, mind control. I've created a new drug that allows me to make anyone do anything I like. It's my greatest creation yet. So, now that I had finished my creation, I needed a subject who had a chance of actually being able to defeat you. So I chose the good captain, lured you and the Tin Man over here away, and got him to come to me. I had already given him the drug you see, several days before, and all I needed to do was to activate it. So he made his way over with you none the wiser, and has thoroughly tested my creation, and it works perfectly!"

"No it doesn't." Tony scoffed. "It made him predictable and easy to beat."

Crane's eyes flashed in anger. "Yes, because of _you_!" He exclaimed. "He was supposed to leave you behind! Had it just been him then he would be been defeated!" He stopped, taking a breath. "But never fear, I always have a plan B. As satisfying as seeing you taken down by Captain America would have been, I think this way will suffice." He snapped his fingers quickly. "Carlos, bring the little bird out."

The familiar man standing towards the back of the room nodded, before disappearing through the door. While the attention was on him, Bruce glanced over at Tony. He had his head down and was whispering something to his wrist – his Avengers communicator. Tony glanced up and met his eyes, mouthing 'ready on my signal.' Bruce nodded slightly to show he had seen.

A few seconds later Carlos emerged, with a handcuffed John Blake in tow.

"Nightwing." Bruce breathed. All in all he looked okay – he was a little dirty, but they had clearly been feeding him and keeping him in good health. He didn't appear injured either, and was glaring fiercely at Crane as he was dragged in.

"Yes, quite the fighter this one is." Crane was saying. "Kept us on our toes those first few weeks, even escaped once – didn't get far into the forest though." He laughed to himself. "Catching him again was most entertaining. But now, I believe I made a promise, and you didn't keep your end." He pulled out a gun. "The old fashioned way I think, it's always quite satisfying." He held the gun up to Blake's head. "Any last words little bird?"

"Yeah." John said hotly. "You're an idiot."

"How dare-" Crane was interrupted by the crash of the door at the same moment as Tony yelled out.

Taking the cue, Batman jumped backwards grabbing the man who had been standing behind him and disarming him. Tony had done the same to his guard, and as Bruce watched Nightwing managed to kick Pequeno's legs from under him, jumping backwards to join Tony and Bruce. The crash of the door had been Captain America's arrival, who had disarmed three men in the meantime.

Shots began to fire at the four of them, who were all quick to dodge and get their backs against the wall. At Tony's call Nightwing jumped over, offering his hands for Iron Man to break the cuffs. With his hands now free John took down another man as Bruce dispatched two from his right side.

As a group they turned towards Scarecrow, he was standing in a circle of about eight men, starting to look a little nervous. There were only two other guards still firing, who the Captain quickly took out as the other three approached Crane.

"Surrender now Crane, and we will spare you and your remaining men." Batman growled, Tony taking aim with his repulsors.

Crane chuckled, but it sounded nervous. "Surrender? It's nine against four!" He exclaimed.

Tony laughed, arming his repulsors. "No Scarecrow," he corrected. "It's nine guys with shitty aim against four superheros. I would just throw in the towel now and save yourself the trouble. Although then again, don't, I'm about to fry you after all."

Crane looked between Bruce's hard expression, Tony's loaded weapons, and Captain America's raised fists. "Fine, I surrender." He said finally. "Put your guns down." He snapped at his men, who were quick to comply.

The four of them quickly began binding and tying up the men, Bruce taking Crane personally. As he secured his hands, Crane laughed. "So Brucie, you've beaten me again. Though this time you had help." He glanced over at the others, who were now all looking on in interest.

Bruce growled. "Where did you hear that name?"

"Oh, all of Bane's men knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman." Crane laughed. "He told us all."

Realization his Bruce like a tonne of bricks, and he quickly turned around to see Tony staring at him in disbelief. "Bruce?" He said flatly. "You can't be serious."

"I had meant to tell you." Bruce began, but was interrupted.

Having accepted the information, Tony had progressed quickly to anger. "Right, all this time weave been friends and you just _forgot_ to mention that you're Batman?" He said incredulously. "That's sort of an important thing! Everything that…" He struggled for a moment to find the right word. "Happened you couldn't find _one_ good time to tell me?"

Crane was laughing openly by this point. "You didn't tell your little friends? Oh Brucie, silly Brucie."

Bruce ignored him, turning back to Tony. "I'm sorry, I should have told you."

"You're right, you should have." Tony scoffed, before turning away. "Come on Cap, let's start getting these guys downstairs."

…

The next few hours were spent delivering the gunmen to the police, and explaining what had happened. Apparently because the Avengers were involved it was all totally legal – none of the annoying vigilante business Batman had to deal with in Gotham, they just showed up at the station with the tied up criminals and told them the story. Tony had still been clearly angry with Bruce, and had left without a word to him once they were done with the police. Bruce stuck around to make sure John was okay, he had been admitted to hospital to be checked over but in the end had been cleared and given a clean bill of health.

"They went pretty easy on me actually." He had shrugged. "I mean, it was boring as hell, but they let me watch TV and they fed me. They only beat me up if I tried to escape, so I stopped doing that." He winced a bit, clearly remembering something. "That time I actually managed to get to the forest they broke a few ribs, that was _painful_." He shuddered. "But after I stopped trying to escape they were pretty decent."

It could have been worse, Bruce supposed. The length of time he had been there, he could have been in a seriously bad way. They were very lucky he was even alive, Bruce decided.

"Well, my flight's in an hour. Are you coming to the airport?" John asked finally as they left the hospital.

Bruce shook his head. "I'm not going back to Gotham."

"Gonna try and patch things up with Tony?" John asked curiously.

Bruce glared at the younger man. "None of your business kid."

"Right." John said, throwing up his hands in defeat. "Well, thanks for coming and saving me." He said finally. "I mean, it took you long enough…" He joked. "Nah, but really, thanks. I appreciate it."

"I know." Bruce said finally. "Have a good flight John."

…

Bruce made his way to Tony's tower, using the journey to try and figure out what to say. He was hoping that Tony would understand if he was given a chance to explain it to him – Bruce's identity as Batman was his most important secret, and he didn't take giving that information out lightly. He had only ever willingly told one person, and those circumstances had been completely different.

He understood that it was different to Tony, whose identity hadn't been a secret for a long time. Tony may have felt confident (cocky, arrogant) enough to reveal his identity in a press conference, but that was never going to be a possibility for Bruce. No one could ever know that he was Batman – the thought of the few who knew already; Gordon, Lucius, Alfred, John – and now, apparently, countless criminals who had worked for Bane, letting something slip constantly had him on edge. If he could take away their knowledge of his identity, he would. Why then, would he voluntarily tell anyone else?

Tony would understand, if he just gave Bruce a chance to explain himself. At least, Bruce _hoped_ he would. He rang the doorbell, waiting a few moments. Nothing, not even the automated answering service that he occasionally got when Tony was busy. He sighed and rang it again. "You can't ignore me Tony."

"Go away Bruce." Tony sounded petulant, and annoyed.

"Please let me in Tony." Bruce sighed. "We need to talk."

"I don't feel like talking to you right now." Tony snapped.

Bruce took a calming breath. "Well when would you like to talk then." He bit out.

"Never." Tony was nothing if not stubborn.

Bruce sighed and waited outside for a few minutes, hoping he would change his mind. When the door cracked open his heart jumped with hope, only to be disappointed when he saw Steve walking out towards him.

He looked sympathetic, but firm. "Sorry Bruce, Tony asked me to come and ask you to leave." He winced. "He's pretty angry at you right now."

"I figured." Bruce sighed. "I just wanted to explain. Maybe he doesn't get the point of secret identities, but they're supposed to be secret!" He frowned.

Steve nodded. "You're right, they are. He's just upset that you didn't tell him, he feels betrayed. I don't really know the whole deal between you guys but Tony doesn't take well to secrets and surprises. He feels like you should have told him."

"I wasn't going to be Batman again after this." Bruce said finally after a long pause. "I didn't see any reason to tell him because I expected it all to be over. I was just going to be Bruce."

"Give him time." Steve said with a comfortingly smile. "He'll come around, he always does."

Bruce nodded. "I will." He turned to leave, before glancing over his shoulder. "Will you at least ask him something for me?" Steve nodded his agreement. "Ask him if he really wants to throw away everything we have over this. And if he doesn't, ask him if he will meet me on our usual rooftop tomorrow night and give me a chance to explain. Please."

"Okay Bruce. Take care." Steve said, turning to go inside.

…

Bruce waited anxiously on the rooftop – he had been there a few hours already, since the sun had just begun to set in the sky. So far there had been no sight of Tony, and Bruce really wasn't sure if he would show up at all.

_This is it_, he thought to himself. _If he doesn't show up now then I'm going to leave this city and leave all this behind._ He didn't need Tony, and he wasn't going to beg for his forgiveness when he hadn't done anything wrong. He didn't need him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a thump behind him – he turned to see Tony landing in the suit, the face plate retracting as he approached. He came to a stop beside him, his arms folded.

"You came." Bruce said finally. Tony raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you would." Bruce admitted.

Tony shrugged. "Cap wanted me to," was all he said.

Bruce nodded, and thought about where he wanted to begin. "I know you feel hurt that I didn't tell you about Batman," he said finally. "But I need you to understand why I made that decision."

"I know why you did." Tony cut in. "Believe it or not, I know a few super heroes. Most of them take their identities much more seriously than I do. I get it."

"So you understand?" Bruce said hopefully.

"No." Tony snapped, whirling to face him with stormy eyes. "I said I know why you did it, that doesn't mean I understand. You came here and befriended me – let me befriend you, whatever – and lied to me. You said you weren't in Gotham during the occupation, when you were the one who saved it. You let me believe that you really were just a former billionaire who had changed his mind about where his life was going and was trying to find himself away from Gotham and everything that means, but that was never you was it? How could it have been? And worst of all, you didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth even once you knew me. Even after…" He broke off, shaking his head. "I trusted you and let you in, and yet...I never knew you, did I Bruce. Not really." He said bitterly.

Bruce was quiet, thinking on what had been said. Emotions welled up inside him, guilt for what he had done to their friendship, their relationship, and regret. "You're right, you didn't really know me. How could you know me," Bruce said finally as the storm of emotions faded slightly. He turned to face the city before him, unable to meet Tony's eyes. "When I don't even know who I am myself?" Tony was silent beside him, letting him continue.

"I've spent so many years being someone else, I don't even remember what it is like to just be Bruce." He whispered finally. "It's true that I lied to you, and for that I'm sorry. But for the last ten years I've had to be this hero, and Batman is not who I really am. Maybe it's what I thought I wanted to be or was supposed to be, I'm not even sure anymore. But since I left Gotham and Batman behind I've come closer to figuring all this out then I ever have before."

He turned to face Tony, meeting his eyes finally. They were still cold and hard towards him, but there was now a layer of softness starting to break through the ice. "I may have lied to you, but you still know me better than anyone else on this earth. I may be still figuring out who I am without Batman, but the person I've been these last few months is the closest I've ever come to just being me." He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "You've helped me find that. And for what it's worth, I've enjoyed having your friendship these last few months." He admitted. "It's made it easier being in this city without anyone, to have someone like you. I've been alone for a long time, and it's hard to let someone in when you're not used to having anyone. I was just starting to think how this could work, how we could make all this work and have each other instead of no one. I'm sure that's something you can relate to, too. I've felt the loneliness and isolation in you, the same as it is in me."

Tony nodded, glancing away. "You're right," he admitted. "I needed you. You helped me through a time where I felt abandoned, all the Avengers had left and Steve still hated me. Pepper dumped me, Rhodey hasn't had time for me, Obi betrayed me. I haven't had anyone for a long time either. I liked you. I thought it might work too…" He paused, gathering his thoughts. "But things are different now." He said finally. "You lied to me, and now I can't trust you. I let you in, and that's not an easy thing for me...you ruined it. You're not the only one anymore - Steve and I are becoming friends, the other Avengers will be back soon." He didn't say it, but Bruce heard it. _I don't need you._

He turned away. "So that's it then." He said softly. "We go our separate ways."

"You were never going to stay with me and you were never going to stay in New York." Tony continued, like it was it was obvious. Bruce supposed in retrospect it was. "You hate this city."

Bruce thought about denying it, but they were beyond that. He glanced out over the city, letting the feel of it wash over him. It was cold and empty, like it always had been. "Then why did you even bother? If you knew I would leave anyway, why even try and make it happen?"

Tony shrugged. "Maybe I shouldn't have." He said finally. "But I got caught up in what it felt like to have someone close to me, I thought maybe it was worth a try. I thought for a moment maybe you could learn to love this city, like I do."

Bruce shook his head. "I don't know how you stand it." He said quietly, inwardly thinking that he could never come to like this place.

"It's my city." Tony said with finality. "I know you understand, you feel the same about yours."

Bruce shook his head once more. "I can't go back to Gotham." He frowned. "I don't want to go back."

"Yes you do." Tony argued. "You want to go back so much that it's eating you up inside, has been ever since you got here, and probably longer. You just want to think you don't want to go back, you want to think that Gotham doesn't need you, and you don't need it. But you do."

"I can't." He whispered.

"You can." Tony said firmly. "Go home, start again as Bruce. You don't need to be Batman again. Just be yourself."

"I don't know how to do that." Bruce argued.

"Yes you do, you've done it here haven't you?" Tony pointed out. "It's no different."

"And what about you?" Bruce said finally. "What will you do?"

Tony shrugged, looking a little nostalgic. "Same as I always do. I'll be Iron Man, and I'll be Tony. Except, to me they're the same person - I am Iron Man as much as I am Tony Stark. I can live with that."

As Bruce met his eyes and locked with his determined gaze he knew it was true. Tony was both Tony Stark and Iron Man, and he was at peace with that. But could Batman find a way to be at peace with Bruce? Somehow Bruce wasn't sure.

…

His homecoming was, to be honest, not the huge event he had imagined in his mind. It had taken him a few days to finally work up the courage to book the flight, but in the end it hadn't been very hard to leave New York. Those few days he had wandered around the city after his conversation with Tony were probably the loneliest of his life. The cold and empty feeling plagued him day and night, he knew he needed to leave and yet couldn't quite bring himself to do it. What had before made it bearable was now gone, there was no Tony to fill the void in this city now, and that thought was still like a fresh wound that ached when he thought about it. So finally he had just left, and he had left his regrets behind. It was strange, he mused, how he only realized how much Tony had meant to him when it was all over and finished, with no chance of going back. But wasn't that life? He supposed it was. Always wanting what you can't have, never realizing what you have until it's gone.

Stepping off the plane at the airport he had expected to feel different – enlightened somehow. But he didn't, he just felt the same. The air wasn't any fresher, the colors weren't any brighter. Nothing felt different, yet at the same time he knew something had changed. It wasn't until he had reached the parking lot that he felt anything at all. His heart jumped as his eyes found the car parked outside, landing on the man standing with the door open. It was Alfred.

Bruce strode over with a smile, his butler's eyes shining with emotion. He stopped in front of him and the two just looked at each other for a moment, taking it in.

"Good to have you back Mr. Wayne." He said finally, and pulled him into a hug.

Bruce wrapped his arms around him. "It's good to be back." He whispered, every inch of his heart confirming his words as true.

"Now let's get you home."

**AN:**

**My first forray into Nolan's Batman (with extra Avengers of course), this one was written as an xmas present for a friend, I was given a strict word limit of 20K, because of this restricting length obviously some scenes had to be rushed or altogether skipped. I have since done a big edit and added some scenes since initial posting so it's now well and truly over the 20k limit (woops).****  
><strong>**A sequel is in the works though (Now posted as an in progress) this one will be a multi chaptered fic not a oneshot.****  
><strong>**Thanks for reading.**

**-AR x (Also published on my A03 account as oursisthe_fury)**


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